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AR01 492691 


THE  IFA7  YORK  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  CO. 


At  a  stated  meetipgfof  the  Directors  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  Company,  held  at  the 
office  of  the  Company,  at  the  Exchange,  in  the  City  of  Albany,  on  the  19th  and  20th  days  of  November, 
1863: 

Present— All  the  numbers  of  the  Board,  viz:  Erastus  Corning,  Albany;  Dean  Richmond, 
Buffalo;  JoH»  H.  CHEDEJ.L,  Auburn:  ALONZO  C.  PAIGE,  Schenectady;  John  V.  L  Pruyn,  Albany; 
NATHANIEL  Thayer,  Boston;  Livingston  Spraker,  Palatine  Bridge;  Jacob  Gould,  Rochester; 
Cornelius  L.  Tracy.  Troy:  Charles  II.  Russell,  New  York:  Richard  M.  Blatchford,  New 
York:  Hamilton  White,  Syracuse ;  II.  H.  Martin,  Albany. 

Messrs  Blatchford;  White  and  Tracy  laid  before  the  Board  a  Circular  to  the  Stockholders  of  the 
Company,  issued  by  them  on  the  16th  inst..  in  reference  to  certain  charges  publicly  made  against  the 
administration  of  the  Road ;  (see  copy  annexed) ;  which  was  read  and  the  subject  to  which  it  related 
considered. 

Whereupon  it  was,  on  motion  of  Charles  II.  Russell,  unanimously — 

Resotved,  That  this  Board  approve  the  course  thus  adopted,  and  both  officially  and  personally 
assure  the  Stockholders  of  the  Company  that  its  affairs  have  been  managed  without  reference  to  the 
advancement  of  any  particular  party  ;  but  with  the  view  in  good  faith  of  promoting  the  business  of  the 
Company,  and  its  financial  prosperity,  in  which  the  members  of  the  Board,  as  Stockholders,  have  a  large 
interest 

Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  Board  point  with  great  satisfaction  to  the  fact  that  nearly  all  the 
large  permanent  improvements  made  since  1854  on  the  line  of  the  road,  and  in  its  business  accommoda- 
tions and  facilities,  which  have  added  largely  to  its  value  and  efficiency,  have  been  paid  for  out  of  Income, 
and  the  debt  of  the  Company  at  the  same  time  largely  reduced  by  the  operation  of  its  established  Sinking 
Funds. 

This  further  minute  was  also  adopted  : 

The  Board  might,  perhaps,  rest  here  ;  but  as  the  usage  of  the  Company  has  been  to  present  the 
annual  report  of  its  condition  and  affairs,  required  to  be  made  by  law,  at  the  Stockholders'  meeting  in 
December,  they  do  not  consider  it  improper  at  this  time,  when  the  Company  is  assailed,  and  the  conduct 
of  its  Directors  misrepresented,  to  anticipate  somewhat  that  which  would  otherwise  have  been  delayed 
till  that  meeting. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  dividend  declared  in  July  last,  the  very  favorable  results  of  the  business 
of  the  road  had  not  been  fully  developed  ;  nor,  in  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  the  Board,  sufficiently  so  in 
the  receipts  down  to  June,  to  sanction  a  dividend  beyond  the  34  per  cent,  then  made.  Now,  however, 
the  experience  of  the  successful  operations  of  the  Company,  and  their  realization  of  largely  increased 
income,  determine  them  to  divide  to  the  Shareholders  the  result  of  this  increased  prosperity  of  their 
Company,  and  next  month  to  declare  a  semi-annual  dividend  for  the  current  six  months,  ending  the  31st 
of  January,  1864,  of  five  per  cent.,  with  the  confident  hope  that  this  rate  can  be  hereafter  maintained. 

A  copy  from  the  minutes. 

ROBERT  L.  BANKS,  Secretary. 


He 
anil 


COPY  OF  THE  CIRCULAR  REFERRED  TO. 


To  the  Stockholders  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  Company  : 

The  undersigned  members  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  Company, 
have  read  several  articles  recently  published  in  some  of  the  New  York  newspapers,  charging  that  the 
affairs  of  the  company  have  been  managed  and  its  funds  us^d  for  political  objects  and  purposes,  and 
in  the  support  and  advancement  of  the  interest  of  the  Democratic  party. 

Two  of  the  undersigned  are  members  of  the  standing  committee  of  three,  by  whom  the  accounts 
of  the  company  are  audited,  and  therefore  have  better  knowledge  than  any  other  members  of  the  Board, 
of  the  use  and  disposition  of  the  company's  funds,  and  one  of  their  number  has,  in  addition,  examined 
the  accounts  of  the  Treasurer  for  eight  years  past;  and  as  politics  have  been  referred  to,  it  is  proper  to 
sa}-,  that  all  the  undersigned  have  been  members  of  the  Republican  party  since  its  organization,  giving 
uniform  and  decided  support  to  the  present  Administration  of  the  General  Government,  and  have  never 
acted  with  the  Democratic  party. 

Under  these  cirumstauces  they  deem  it  due  to  the  Stockholders  of  the  company,  to  themselves, 
and  to  such  of  their  co-directors  as  belong  to  the  Democratic  party,  who  have  been  unjustly  assailed  in 
this  matter,  to  say,  that  they  have  never  discovered  in  any  of  the  accounts,  vouchers,  or  transactions  of 
the  company,  nor  have  thejr  any  reason  to  believe  that  the  funds  or  property  of  the  company  have  been 
used  or  applied  for  political  purposes  or  objects,  for  the  benefit  of  any  political  party  or  organization, 
and  that  the  charges  made  against  its  administration  above  referred  to,  are  entirely  unwarranted. 

They  further  state  that  they  are  not  aware,  nor  have  they  any  reason  to  believe  that  any  officer 
or  agent  of  the  company  has  ever  been  employed  or  dismissed  on  political  considerations,  and  that  more 
than  one-half  in  number,  as  they  fully  believe,  of  the  officers  and  employees  of  the  company,  at  its 
principal  office  in  Albany,  are  now,  and  have  uniformly  been,  supporters  of  the  present  General 
Administration. 

There  are  several  other  members  of  the  Board,  friends  of  the  present  Administration  of  the 
General  Government,  who,  the  undersigned  doubt  not,  would  concur  with  them  in  this  statement  were 
it  presented  to  them,  but  with  whom  they  have  had  no  opportunity  to  confer. 

November  16,  1863. 

R.  M.  BLATCHFORD,  New  York, 
HAMILTON  WHITE,  Syracuse, 
CORNELIUS  L.  TRACY,  Loy. 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gin  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


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SEYMOUR  DURST 


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